Generation, propagation, and self-healing properties of annular optical vortex lattices

Abstract

Recently, optical lattices with regular spatial structures have attracted considerable attention from the physics and optics communities. Optical vortex lattices (OVLs) can be used for optical communication, imaging, and processing applications. In this study, we propose a technique for generating new helical Ince-Gaussian (HIG) modes by superposing even and odd Ince-Gaussian beams. The arrangement of optical vortices in HIG beams is periodic, and these vortices form an OVL. The HIG beam will gradually transform from a Laguerre Gaussian beam to OVL during propagation. The number of unit lattices in the OVL was determined based on the values of order p and degree m of the even and odd IG beams. Thereafter, we investigated the self-healing properties of the OVL. Optical trapping, particle manipulation, and optical communication can all benefit from the HIG beam.